NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said Tuesday that team owners will discuss a plan when they meet next week for dealing with the raging national controversy over players’ protests during the national anthem, adding that while the league respects the right of its players to express their opinions, it believes they should stand during the playing of the anthem.

While stopping short of saying the NFL would require its players to stand, Goodell strongly suggested in a letter to NFL teams that at next week’s meeting the league would propose to owners that players be required to do so, while also providing a platform to recognize their community activism.

I mean, I don’t think anyone can ever take those for granted. These are pretty amazing times for all of us — fans included, players, coaches, everyone. It’s very special.”

So much about the next two weeks will be familiar for the Patriots, providing them an unquestioned advantage over the Philadelphia Eagles, their opponents for Super Bowl LII. They have one more, too: Brady expects to get his stiches out this week.

Baez signed for $3 million in the Padres’ epic July 2 free-agent class, but I don’t think anyone expected the kind of performance the the 6-foot-8 right-hander showed this summer in low-A Fort Wayne. Baez arrived in the Midwest League on July 4 for his first start outside of the Arizona Rookie League and punched out 34 percent of batters he faced while walking just eight men across 10 starts there.

He will hit 98 mph and pitch comfortably in the mid-90s with good angle thanks to his height, showing an above-average to plus changeup and a slurvy curveball that comes and goes start to start. His extension gets him a little extra hop on his fastball in the zone, which so far has allowed him to miss bats with the pitch.

The Padres were cautious about innings in his first pro season, but Baez, who just turned 22, needs to be challenged this year with better competition, as he has No. 2 upside but simply overpowered the younger low-A hitters he faced last year.